


5 Days + 2 Boys + 1 Bucky =

by 343EnderSpark, SilverMyfanwy



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Barbecue, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Genderqueer Character, Horseback Riding, Horses, M/M, Non-Binary Bucky Barnes, Non-binary character, Other, Pining, Polyamory, Rodeo Competitions, Slow Burn, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Trans Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26121256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/343EnderSpark/pseuds/343EnderSpark, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMyfanwy/pseuds/SilverMyfanwy
Summary: When Steve goes to Indiana- leaving NYC for one of the first times- to visit his best friend and secret crush Bucky, he hadn't expected to find Bucky in a relationship with their ranch-owning boss.He certainly hadn't expected to be jealous about it, either.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 27
Kudos: 71
Collections: Big Bang Artworks, WinterIronShield Bang Ultimate Collection





	1. Day One

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> Huge thank you to my amazing beta QueenOfALotDifferentWorlds; you've been so helpful and patient!  
> And 343EnderSpark came up with the amazing prompt and collage.
> 
> Thank you to the mods too!
> 
> Warnings for each chapter are in the end notes. Just a head's up- Steve is trans and Bucky is non-binary. Enjoy the fic!

Steve had spent far too many hours on the many, many trains from Red Hook in Brooklyn all the way out to Shelbyville, Indiana to still feel even close to human, so the first thing he did when the announcer on the train said that they were almost at the stop, he texted Bucky to get them to bring him ‘any form of coffee you can find and still have hot by the time I get it I am so desperate for the caffeine right now I swear on my front teeth I will give you my first born if you bring me espresso’.

Bucky replied with the crying with laughter emoji, which Steve felt was slightly taking the mick out of the seriousness of his offer. Bucky replied again and that text amended the situation somewhat- ‘one espresso coming right up. Please don’t give me a child; baby vomit grosses me out’.

Steve smiled to himself and put his phone in the pocket of his skinny jeans, looking out of the window of the train and wondering if he had packed the wrong clothes for his trip.

The train was rattling along the track past green fields of grazing cattle, patches of woodland dotted sporadically between fence lines and a lot of dirt tracks. It was a far cry from Brooklyn, or any part of New York for that matter, where Steve had spent virtually all of his life. He’d only left the city a few times before and that had mainly been for work in other cities. Boston which had been utterly freezing and Philly, which had been, well, Philly. He'd been out to the countryside - sort of - once before and that had been an accident. While driving to Philly his rental car had broken down and he had spent a couple of hours parked on the edge of a field warily eyeing some overly curious cows as he waited for the tow truck.

The clothes his line of work as a photographer, particularly as what could be completely fairly described as a hipster photographer, didn’t lend themselves particularly to the great outdoors. He wore skinny jeans and thin plaid shirts, beanies and bracelets, scarves with fringed edges and baseball caps. He didn’t own any pairs of shoes that weren’t either converse or very expensive leather shoes he used for meetings with his boss. He’d packed his two scruffiest pairs of converse for this trip and prayed that he wasn’t going to be expected to ride a horse.

He couldn’t change anything now. Fields began to give way to houses, which then became bigger houses and shops. Butterflies began to somersault in Steve’s stomach at the thought of seeing Bucky in real life again. They hadn’t seen each other face to face since Bucky had returned to their hometown after spending middle school and high school in Brooklyn. Their friendship had stayed intact over the internet, phone calls and video chats as neither of them had ever even contemplated letting their friendship die out. They'd been best friends from almost the first moment they met. Steve had been the skinny sick kid and the only openly trans kid in their school. Consequently, no one really knew how to act around him. Bucky had been new with a different accent to all the other kids, unfamiliar with the city, its people, its ways.

Bucky probably would have managed quite well by themself; they were tall, strong, good at baseball. Then on their first day they dragged Steve out of a fight and they weren’t by themself anymore.

The train shuddered to a halt.

Taking a deep breath, Steve stood up and tugged his rucksack over his shoulder. He left the train; the only person from his carriage to be disembarking.There weren't many people on the platform but they all looked up to examine Steve. He looked around for Bucky; flitting his eyes across every face and head of hair, going so fast he barely registered each before moving onto the next.

Then he saw them.

Bucky was standing next to a large ceramic plant pot with a slightly pitiful looking tree in it. “Steve!”

“Bucky!” Steve could feel himself smiling from ear to ear as he ran towards Bucky and hugged them. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You’re telling me.” Bucky clapped Steve on the back and held a cup of coffee out to him. “Kept my word.”

“Thank you.” Steve took the coffee and drank it eagerly, wincing when it burnt his tongue. “Ow.”

“Clearly you haven't found any patience in the last seven years.” Bucky laughed. “It’s good to see you. It’s really good to see you.”

“We should have done this years ago.”

“Yeah. The truck’s parked outside. Do you wanna head straight over to the ranch or is there anything you want to get done first?”

“We can go straight away.”

“Have you got any other types of clothes with you?” Bucky asked as they walked, looking at Steve and his skinny jeans.

“What kinds of other clothes? Socks?”

“Clothes more like mine.” Bucky said. “Like, real jeans. And slightly less rippable shirts.”

“Uhh…”

“I’ll see if I can find you some spare clothes from someone else on the ranch.” Bucky said.

“Will there be clothes big enough for me?” Steve asked, slightly surprised. “As I hope you’ve noticed, you are no longer a twig.”

“I have noticed that you now look like a semi-professional swimmer, but I work on a ranch, so everyone looks like an ancient greek statue.” Bucky said. “Plus, one of the workers is a guy called Thor who looks like a Viking and he’s stronger than most of the cows. His clothes would leave you swimming.”

They got in the truck and Steve immediately noticed the smell of straw. He sneezed.

“Have you got hayfever?” Bucky asked cautiously.

“I really hope not or this is going to be an interesting trip.”

Bucky switched the ignition on and they began to drive through town. “When we get to the ranch I’ll introduce you to everyone and then I’ll show you around the ranch. You’re staying in one of the spare rooms in the workers’ house. You’ll be between me and a guy called Sam.”

“Cool. Um, I have to ask, are you out as non-binary there or should I refer to you with he/him pronouns?”

“I’m out.” Bucky said happily. “Everyone knows, everyone’s cool with it. Most people around town are good about it too.”

“Seems like an unusual place for someone non-binary to be widely accepted.” Steve said, looking out at the town as they drove.

“Tony holds a lot of sway around here. Because he accepted me and used the pronouns and stuff I asked him to, everyone else just sort of followed after him.” Bucky said.

“Tony…”

“Tony Stark. My boss. He owns the ranch, Stark Acres. It’s the biggest ranch around here, employs a load of people, supplies a lot of food and consequently creates a lot more jobs, so people like him. And he gives a lot of money to charity and owns some other businesses that he’s less involved with. He doesn’t manage the ranch but he is quite involved with it.”

Steve decided not to comment on the tone of voice Bucky was using when he talked about Tony. It sounded slightly too cheery for a normal tone of voice you would use when talking about your boss. Suddenly, the houses gave way to farmland and he got distracted by looking out of the window.

-

There was a long dirt track leading off the road to the ranch. On either side of the track were tall fences stopping large herds of horses from getting out. Steve thought they were large herds because he had never seen more than two horses in the same place at the same time before, but Bucky said having 200 horses was normal for ranches in the area.

“There's so much land!” Steve marvelled, rolling down the window to lean out and stare at the fields and rolling hills. “You can see so far!”

Bucky laughed. “I forgot just how much of a city boy you are.”

“This place is amazing.” Steve said. “I can see why you love it out here.”

There was a barn, a large stable and two houses placed around the edge of the yard, along with assorted small outbuildings and a corral. One of the houses was long, low and white and made from wooden planks, though it was also splattered with mud and dust. The other house was larger, though tall and squat. There were a couple of pickup trucks parked outside it.

“The flat house is where we live and where you’ll be staying.” Bucky said. “Tony lives in the other house.”

They got out of the truck and a labrador that had been sleeping on the porch jumped up to come and greet them.

“Hey Lucky!” Bucky called to it as it came bounding up to them. “Steve, this is Lucky. She’s Clint’s dog.”

“Can I stroke her?”

“Of course.” 

Steve stroked Lucky’s back as she turned around and around in circles, wagging her tail frantically.

“You must be Steve Rogers!” a voice called out cheerily. Steve looked up to see a man with messy brown hair who was wearing a purple t-shirt standing on the porch. “I know you’re supposed to say stuff like ‘Oh, Lucky likes you, it means you must be a good person’ when your dog meets someone and likes them but Lucky likes everybody and always has, including three seperate lots of rustlers, so...”

“Steve, this is Cllint.” Bucky said.

Steve waved to Clint. “Hi! It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too. Bucky talks about you all the time but he never said you were so tall.” Clint stepped off the porch and walked over to shake Steve’s hand.

“Where’s everyone else?” Bucky asked Clint.

“Uh, Thor and Natasha are in the barn, Sam’s out in the fields, Bruce is with a horse, Carol and Maria are out in the fields and I have no idea about anybody else.”

“What about May?”

“Uh, she’s painting the back wall of that shed that the blood went over last week.” Clint said.

Steve looked to Bucky with raised eyebrows. “Blood?”

“It was fake blood. May’s nephew, Carol and Maria’s daughter put on a play for us. Let’s go and see May.”

“Are you having dinner with us?” Clint asked.

Steve nodded.

“I’ll talk to you later then. I’m off to see a man about some pigs.” Clint waved and walked towards one of the trucks.

“Who’s May?” Steve asked Bucky as he followed them towards one end of the yard.

“She works on the ranch doing all the odd random stuff so we have more time to do the agricultural work. She does the shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, the paperwork, the painting, simple repairs, stuff like that. And we take all the spare hands we can get at calving. Her nephew, Peter, lives with her.”

“And who are Carol and Maria?”

“Carol's a cattle driver, Maria works with the horses. They're married. They live in a little house on the other side of the ranch with their kid, Monica.”

They rounded a corner and Steve sees a middle-aged woman wearing an enormous bright pink apron to protect herself from the paint she was applying to the back of the shed. Even now you could see the remnants of the fake blood in places. She looked up with a smile, “You must be Steve!”

-

After introductions with May and talking about Steve's journey, Bucky showed Steve around the ranch. He marvelled at the barns, the long lines of horse stalls, the haystack, the machinery and everything else. Then, as the sun began to set, they headed back to the workers’ house. As they went across the yard, they met Natasha, who was a slim Russian woman with red hair tied up in a short ponytail.

“Bucky’s childhood friend, I take it. It’s nice to meet you. How do you feel about fish lasagna?” she asked casually.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows. “Fish lasagna?”

“Tonight's dinner.” Natasha said cheerfully. “May’s not a bad cook, I promise, but she is an unusual one.”

A few minutes later, Steve found himself sitting at a large wooden table between Clint and Bucky. All the other ranch workers were there apart from Clint and May, who according to Bucky normally had dinner in their own house. May took portions of fish lasagna out of a large glass dish and put them into blue bowls; they all got one apart from Thor who got two.

“I’m sorry I can’t stay Steve but I need to get home to give Peter his dinner and then I’ve got to help him get ready for his Spanish test tomorrow. I’ll see you all tomorrow!” May said, untying her apron and heading for the door. “Goodnight everyone!”

“Bye May!” there was a general chorus from around the table and she left with a wave. 

“So, Steve, tell us what you do.” Bruce said. He was probably the oldest of the ranch workers; greying hair and bags under his eyes. According to Bucky, he was a qualified vet and worked out all the science behind how much eco-friendly products that had to put into the fields to make sure the animals got enough to eat.

“I’m a photographer,” Steve said. “I work for an agency and go and take photos of whatever exhibition or building or new mural they tell me to, basically.”

“He’s a very good photographer.” Bucky said. “But he’s even better at drawing. You know that drawing of New York I have on my wall? He did that.”

Steve smiled sheepishly as the others turned to look at him, impressed.

“You drew that?” Sam asked.

Steve nodded.

“Why aren’t you an artist instead of a photographer?” Clint asked.

“Being a photographer pays more. And pays faster.” Steve said simply.

“Clint fancies himself something of an artist.” Natasha said, leaning back in her chair away from her bowl yet still managing to eat her lasagna with perfect ease without dropping any on herself. “He likes drawing genitalia on important documents Tony accidentally leaves lying around.”

At that moment, two more men walked in. One was dressed in a suit and tie and the other was in jeans and a t-shirt. The workers froze.

“What was that I just heard, Miss Romanoff?” the man in the suit asked in an English accent, pulling out two more chairs and sitting down.

“It was nothing.” Natasha said hastily. Clint looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

“So that wasn’t just you ratting Clint out for being the one making inappropriate drawings on business contracts?” the man in the t-shirt asked, giving himself and the Englishman lasagna.

  
“We will discuss this later. We have a guest!” the Englishman said, smiling at Steve. “You must be Mr Rogers! I’m Edwin Jarvis, I’m Mr Stark’s PA.” He held a hand out over the table and Steve shook it.

“And I’m James Rhodes, but everyone calls me Rhodey. I’m the ranch manager.”

“Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s no trouble, no trouble. How was your journey? And how are you finding Illinois?”

By the time he went to bed, Steve had laughed more in that evening than he had in a very long time before, largely because of a story Thor had told about his brother and a goat.

“Here’s your room.” Bucky said.

“Room sweet room.”

“Goodnight Steve.”

“Night Bucky.”

He slept pretty well that night too.


	2. Day Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings in end notes.  
> I'm silvermyfanwy on Tumblr! Come say hi!

Steve lay awake for several moments blinking up at the ceiling before he remembered where he was. The room was smaller than he was used to, the light bounced off the walls differently, the sheets smelled different. He should have been better prepared for that, he supposed, what with being on a ranch hundreds of miles away from his New York flat. He reached out from under the duvet to get his phone and check the time, which was horrifically early so he decided to go back to sleep for a bit longer.

That was when the door opened and Bucky stuck their head around the door. “Oi! Steve! Are you coming to have breakfast?”

“It’s 5 am!” Steve hissed at them. “And why are you being so loud? You’ll wake everyone up!”

“They’re all awake already.” Bucky said cheerfully. “This is when we normally get up. We’ve got a lot of stuff to get done this morning. Get up, get dressed, or you can have breakfast in your pajamas and get dressed after if you want. There's no point having a shower until the end of the day because if you have one now, you’ll need another in an hour because you’ll be hot and sticky and sweaty and muddy by then.”

Steve groaned into his pillow. “I’ll be down in a moment. Just let me have two more minutes.”

“Will two more minutes turn into 20?”

Bucky seemed to take Steve’s silence as an answer and they strode over to Steve’s bed and yanked the duvet off him.

“Hey!” Steve sat bolt upright, indignant but smiling. “What was that for?”

“You know exactly what that was for. Come on, up you get.”

-

Breakfast was eaten quickly and messily with people going in and out of the kitchen all the time. They all ate cereal for breakfast, as Steve discovered when he came downstairs with Bucky and found six different boxes of it on the table. There was a large selection of assorted bowls scattered around the kitchen; some stacked up in the sink or on the counter or left on the table. Rhodey and Natasha were just walking out of the kitchen as Steve and Bucky entered; Sam, Clint, Thor and a woman with short black hair were sitting down.

“Good morning!” Thor said cheerfully. He was eating out of a mixing bowl rather than a normal bowl.

“Morning.” Bucky sat down and pushed a clean bowl towards Steve. “Help yourself to cereal, Steve. This is Maria.”

Maria smiled. “Hi!”

“Clint’s hungover.” Sam said, emphasising his words by raising his voice slightly. Clint glowered at him.

“How did you manage to get hungover between going to bed after dinner last night and this morning?” Bucky asked incredulously.

“Natasha had vodka.” Clint said sadly. “And she said she needed someone to help her drink it. And now she’s absolutely fine, the show-off.”

Bucky chuckled. “Natasha can drink us all under the table, except for Thor, who doesn’t seem able to get drunk.” he told Steve.

“May will be here soon and she’ll feed you a hangover cure” Maria said. “Though it is less of a cure and more of a hindrance.”

-

“First thing we’re doing this morning is going to see if we can find you a spare pair of boots from somewhere.”

It was significantly colder outside than Steve had expected it to be and he was shivering. The sun had come up about an hour before hand but was still low in the sky, clinging onto the safety of the horizon for as long as it could before letting go and soaring. Bucky didn’t seem to notice the temperature; their hands were in their pockets but their hands were in their pockets nearly all the time anyway.

“What’s wrong with these shoes?” Steve asked, teeth chattering as he looked down at his dark blue converse. The fabric was getting slightly worn in places, which was possibly why he was so cold.

“Don’t even get me started.”  
  


Steve had expected Bucky to take him to one of the barns or the storeroom. Instewad, they went towards Tony’s house. “You’re going to wake your boss up at 6 am?” he asked Bucky incredulously.

“I hope so.” They reached the front door and Bucky took out a key.

Steve frowned, confused by both Bucky’s words and the fact that they had a key for their boss’s house yet wasn't even one of the ranch managers. “What do you mean?”

“If we wake him up it means that he hasn’t been awake all night working on some mad new scheme.” Bucky unlocked the door and stepped inside, beckoning Steve in after them. “Tony!”

Bucky seemed to be completely at ease with being in the house and yelling. Instead of waiting at the foot of the stairs to see if there was any response, they walked straight through the hall, breezed through a kitchen full of state-of the art cooking equipment and out onto a patio in a small enclosed yard with a tiny lawn. On the patio, a man in his early thirties with dark hair and a beard was doing yoga while humming an AC DC song. He smiled when he saw Bucky and waved at Steve. He jumped to his feet eagerly and looked Steve up and down, then turned to Bucky. “I thought that you must have told me everything there was to know about this man by now, but you forgot to tell me how tall he was.”

“It didn’t seem like something relevant to mention.” Bucky said. “Steve needs some new boots. Are there any spare in the basement? And why are you doing yoga?”

“There should be a box of spare bots in a box behind the sofa. Ana suggested that I did yoga because she thought it might make make me less restless and a bit more level headed but honestly it just gave me more time to think about all the restless and chaotic things I want to do.” Tony grinned and rubbed his hands together as he stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing red silk pajamas with a lion embroidered over each knee in bright blue thread. “Let’s go and find you some boots!”

-

Between the three of them they managed to find a pair of boots that just about fitted Steve. Tony helped them find the boots and then shooed them out of the house as he had to go to a meeting; as they left Bucky had put a hand on Tony’s back in a way that Steve, yet again, decided not to comment on right then and there. He was saving up a whole pile of things for later questioning.

“You can put your other shoes on the porch to pick up later.” Bucky said. “Have you ever fed horses before?”

Steve shook his head as he put the shoes down.

“We’ll have changed that pretty soon.” Bucky said, patting Steve on the shoulder and smiling in a way that concerned him slightly. “We’re about to feed 25.”

“25? I saw way more than that out in the field.”

“We’re not feeding them all. There’s 50 in the stables at the moment and the other 50 are out in the fields. I feed half the horses in the morning and Sam does the other half Thor and Maria do the other half in the evenings. After we feed them, we’ll take most of them out to the fields. Some of them stay in the stables because they’re sick or pregnant or Bruce wants to keep an eye on them. And there are a few that Maria’s breaking in.”

Steve had seen the stables the day before, but only from the outside. When they walked in and he saw stable after stable on either side of a long corridor, he turned to Bucky with his eyebrows raised. “Are there horses in each of these room things?”

“The individual bits are called stables too. And no, some of them are in the other barn.” Bucky started to walk down the corridor. “There’s a storeroom with food bins at the other end.”

“Aren’t you going to say hello to the horses?” Steve called after Bucky as he stopped to look at a dark brown horse with alien mane and forelock. “Can I pet this one?”

“Yeah. Just be careful. And don’t pet any with yellow paint on their door because it means it bites.” Bucky smiled over their shoulder at the sight of Steve slowly making his way down the line of horses, stroking their noses and whispering to them.

“It looks like you’ll be feeding the lot by yourself after all.” Sam said to Bucky as they walked past, both of them looking at Steve. Steve’s face was lit up as he petted each of the horses, knuckles brushing over soft, fine hairs, the sun shining through the door behind him lighting up the warm breath of the horses as their nostrils flared, swirling dust floating around Steve's head like a halo.

“At least he likes the horses. And they seem to like him, too.” Sam said quietly.

“Mm.”

Sam looked at Bucky with narrowed eyes. “Why are you looking at him like that?” he hissed.

“Like what?”

“I’m just looking at him!” Bucky said defensively.

“Yeah, just looking at him with his blonde hair and broad shoulders and-”

Bucky slapped Sam across the shoulder. “I’m not looking at him like that!”

“You know full well that Tony’s been in polyamorous relationships before.” Sam said quietly.

“Sam!”

He raised his hands in the air. “I’m just saying. And he is good looking.”

“If you think he's good looking, ask him out yourself.” Bucky whispered.

Sam raised his eyes in surprise and opened his mouth to say something but Bucky got there first.

“Forget I said that. Do not ask my best friend out.” Bucky raised a finger threateningly. “I need to go and get the food.”

A few minutes later, Bucky pushed a wheelbarrow up to Steve with a large sack of food, some feed scoops and an enormous stack of buckets in it. “Put the food in the buckets and I’ll put the buckets in the stalls. Then we’ll do all the water.”

“Can I keep petting the horses while you sort the buckets out to keep them from getting distracted and trying to get out of the stables?” Steve asked hopefully.

“You can pet the horses as much as you want as long as you get the food in the buckets.”

The horse whose stall was next to them whined, sticking its nose over the stall door, trying to get to the feed sacks. Bucky took a bucket off the top of the stack and held it out to Steve. “Here you go. Get going.”

“Do the horses have names?” Steve asked as they made their way down the row.

“Some of them have names; normally we just use their numbers. But the ones that get ridden and the ones that we use for breeding have names.”

“Does this one have a name?” Steve asked, putting three scoops of feed in the bucket but giving the horse the majority of his attention. 

“I don’t think so.”

“Can I give it a name?”

“Don’t see why not.”

“Is it a girl or a boy?”

“Uh, a girl.”  
  


“Can I call it Coffee?”

“Coffee’s a good name.” Bucky put the bucket down and closed the stall door behind them. “Right. One down, 24 to go. Get the next one ready!”

-

“I think we should probably go shopping while we’re in town.” Bucky said as they drove along the dirt track to the road. “We can get you a pair of boots that fit properly. Maybe find you some jeans. There isn’t much else to do in town at this time of day. Some bars, some restaurants, cinema, bowling. Mostly shops and most of them are agricultural. You fancy the sound of any of that?”

“Shopping sounds fine. Is there anything else?”

“Uh…” Bucky thought for a moment and pulled out onto the road. “Uh, there's a park. We could go and have a walk around there. There’s an art gallery due to opening up in a few weeks I think but as it’s not actually open yet, that's not actually an option.”

“Is there somewhere we could get ice cream?” Steve asked hopefully.

“Pal, that's the best idea you’ve had all day.”

They’d fed the horses, given them the water and taken most of them out to the fields and then Bucky did a few other quick chores before they drove out to town as they had planned before Steve arrived.

“Oh, I have to pick up a parcel for Tony at the post office.” Bucky said. “I’ll do it on the way back.”

“You and Tony...” Steve said, deciding he didn’t want to wait any longer to ask about the relationship. “What’s going on between you two?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Bucky said, putting on a thick tone of innocence.

"Yeah, of course you don't. You have keys to his house, you look at him like he’s someone you care about rather than just your boss, you talk about him with a different tone of voice to how you talk about everyone else.” Steve gave Bucky a knowing look. “Come on. You can tell me.”

“You think I like him.”

“I’d have to be deaf and blind to think that you didn’t like him.” Steve said.

"So he has a nice face. And he's a nice guy. So what?"

"Bucky." Steve said sternly. "Come on. Tell me."

Bucky's face had gone grey. "We've been dating for a year."

“A _year_?” Steve had no idea how he felt about this news. In his stomach there was a mix of confusion, anger, joy and to Steve’s further confusion, hurt. “You’ve had a boyfriend for a year and you didn’t tell me? Your boss had been your boyfriend for a year?”

Bucky nodded, avoiding Steve's gaze. “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Steve felt his voice growing hollow. He wondered why his heart hurt so much.

Bucky was quiet for a moment. “I’m not really sure,” they admitted. “I- I wanted to tell you in person, I guess. I wanted to explain it to you properly, coz he's older and my boss and when we started dating I didn't think it would last, so I didn't think it was worth telling you but then we stayed together and then it was three months and six and I didn't know how to tell you. I’m sorry I didn't tell you.”

Steve let out a deep breath. Bucky looked at him with worried eyes. "Steve?"

"Can I give him the shovel talk?”

They laughed.

“Okay, you took that better than I thought you would.” Bucky said, smiling. “Tony is…”

“He looks at you the same way you look at him.” Steve said. “That’s a good thing.”  
  


“He’s chaotic. And crazy, slightly. He comes up with mad schemes like trying to invent a fence that sprays water at people who break in and he comes up with brilliant schemes like he got the county to stop charging kids for school meals. And he has so much money it’s insane; the kind of money that would be rich even in New York and he uses it all to help people and employ people. He’s good. He's so good. And I like him a lot.”

“I’m happy for you.” Steve wasn’t sure why he felt like he was lying.

“Here are the shops.” Bucky began to park the truck. “You're not mad at me for not telling you?”

“I am absolutely mad at you.” Steve said. “I could have had a year’s worth of hearing about your love life! I feel cheated!” Steve leaned back in his chair and looked at Bucky expectantly.

“Why are you quiet?”

“I’m waiting for you to tell me more about him!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings:  
> reference to drinking  
> Abelist language


	3. Day Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings in end note. I'm silvermyfanwy on tumblr! Come say hi!

The next day, Bucky told Steve that he had to go for a ride.

Steve froze. “Why do I have to go horse riding?”

“Because it’s practically sacrilege for you to come to a ranch in Indiana with over 200 horses and not go for a ride.” Bucky said simply. “Besides, I need to go and check on some cattle on horseback this morning anyway. And, uh, Tony’s coming with us. So you can get to know him better.”

“I’ve never been horse riding before.” Steve said blankly. “How am I supposed to know what to do?

“I’ll show you what to do.” Bucky promised. “You can have a bit of a go in the corral first before we head out. Wear your boots and jeans; you’ll be fine. It’s easy.”

“You've been doing it since you were a kid! Of course you would say that! Do I get a helmet?”

“You get a helmet. We’re not allowed to ride without them. It’s not really aesthetic, but not wearing them is the reason Tony’s parents are dead, so.” Bucky shrugged. “Life’s better than a sweaty head.”

“Will you give me a horse that’s easy to ride?”

“Of course. I will find a rocking horse in the attic for you and you can ride that along the trail."

Steve gave Bucky a withering look. Bucky cracked a smile. "I will get you a well-behaved horse."  
  


“And you won’t leave me behind when we go for the actual ride?” Steve checked.

“I might have to, coz I’ll end up going to check up on some of the cows, but Tony will be with you.” Bucky said. On seeing the continued look of unease on Steve’s face, they continued. “He doesn’t like riding fast. He prefers driving fast. And he’ll want to chat to you, get to know you better. You're my best friend. I want my best friend and my boyfriend to get on. My boyfriend wants to get on with my best friend. Please don’t tell him too many embarrassing stories about me from when we were kids.”

Steve kept his face blank.

A look of horror came onto Bucky’s face and they swore. “How many have you told him already, Steve Rogers?”

“None.” Steve’s face split into a grin and he patted Bucky on the shoulder, grinning. “I just wanted to see your face. Come on. Let's go and get this riding malarky over and done with.”

-

Tony was in the stables saddling up a horse when Steve and Bucky came in. “Morning.”

Bucky kissed Tony and patted the horse on the flank. “I’m gonna saddle a horse up for Steve, give him some time to practice in the corral and then we’ll head out.”  
  


Tony looked at Steve, surprised. “Is this your first time?”

Steve paused for a moment, eyes wide and cheeks red, then shook his head. “Not that many horses in New York. And not that much money for second homes in the sea I grew up in, either.”

“The only horses I can ever remember seeing there were police horses.” Bucky said, taking one of the horses out of a stall and leading it outside to be tacked up. “Are you ready, babe?”

“Yeah.”

“Could you tack up Magnolia for me while I explain to Steve how all this is gonna work?”

“Of course.” Tony ducked behind a doorway to get the tack and Steve felt ever so slightly helpless and out of place as he got to work, easily doing up buckles and tightening straps. He and Bucky moved around each other with ease, moving in and out of their paths, Tony ducking under Bucky’s arm, Bucky silently holding a flap on the saddle out of the way for him. Steve felt a pang of jealousy in the pit of his belly at how comfortably they seemed together, how fluid and practiced their motions were.

“These are stirrups.” Bucky said, halting Steve out of his thoughts.

Steve rolled his eyes. “I know what they are.”

“Just checking. That's where your feet go. You sit on the saddle, you hold the reins. We’ll get a mounting block, you climb up it, you’ll put your left for in the stirrup and then swing the other leg over as you sit down. Give her one small nudge with your heels and she’ll start walking. We won't try anything more than walking today.”

"I'm not an idiot, Bucky. I have seen people ride horses before."

“Well you can try trotting tomorrow, seeing as you're so confident. Once you’re on, I'll show you how to hold the reins properly.” Bucky said. Tony finished taking Magnolia up and handed the reins to Bucky, who grinned at Steve. “You ready?”

“As I'll ever be.”

Bucky led Magnolia over to an enormous- in Steve’s opinion- wooden set of stairs next to the wall of the stables, running parallel to it. "Get up on there."

Steve did as he was told and then followed Bucky’s instructions to put one foot in one stirrup, hold the reins and suddenly he was sitting on horseback. He looked down at Bucky with wide eyes, jaw slightly dropped in awe. “I’m on a horse!”

Bucky laughed, eyes alive and smile wide. “At long last. I’m proud of you, buddy. I’ll lead her into the corral and you can try being on your own. She won’t bolt anywhere you’re safe. Right, see if you can get her to walk. Be gentle; it's better to start gentle and work your way until she goes rather than kick too hard and she gallops.”

“I thought you just said she wouldn't bolt?”

“There's a difference between bolting and galloping.”

Steve looked at Bucky, horrified. “There is?”

-

Steve got the hang of riding pretty quickly; it was nowhere near as complicated as he had feared. Pretty much all he had to do was sit still, hold tight and let Magonlia do all the work.

Bucky and Tony got the horses ready for themselves riding out of the yard to a small dirt track between some trees.

“Are we going out to see the cows by the ridge?” Tony asked Bucky.

“Yeah. But we’ll go along the river first, and then I’ll go and check on the cows by the ridge while you stay with Steve coz riding up there’s a bit tricky for someone who only started today.” Bucky said. “Is that okay?”

Tony agreed easily. “I can always go up to the ridge if you want to spend more time with Steve.” Tony offered. 

“It's fine.” Bucky smiled at their boyfriend. “The cows respond to me better anyway.”

"Yeah, coz having some cows liking you is such an achievement." Tony rolled his eyes. "It's only because you feed them."

Steve’s horse was between Tony’s, and Bucky’s. Tony looked back over his shoulder to Steve. “Okie dokie Steve, how long have you known Bucky for and consequently how many years' worth of entertaining tales to tell do you have?”

“Since middle school.”  
  


“And through high school as well?”

“Yep.”

“Please tell me you have lots of embarrassing stories about them.” Tony said eagerly.

Bucky groaned and looked at Steve with big, round, puppy-dog eyes. “Please, Steve, no, you agreed earlier that you wouldn’t tell him.”

“So there are embarrassing stories!” Tony said, delighted. “How many of them involve stray cats?”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “Stray cats?”

Tony nodded. “Almost all the embarrassing stories I have about Bucky involve stray cats. Except for the time with the feather headdress and the overflowing sink.”  
  


“I like the sound of that story.” Steve said. “You tell me what happened with that and I’ll tell you a story about a sunflower, a pigeon and three batches of cupcakes.”

“I would love to but unfortunately the feather headdress and the overflowing sink compromise me as well.” Tony thought for a moment. “The story about the bag of flour, however, does not.”

“Whatever you two say I do, please remember that I have plenty of embarrassing stories of each of you.” Bucky reminded them, their tone icy, even if they couldn’t hold back the smile. “So perhaps it might be prudent of you to change the conversation to something else.”  
  


“What else are we supposed to talk about other than embarrassing stories?” Tony asked incredulously.

“I think Steve wanted to give you the shovel talk?” Bucky suggested, nose wrinkling as they tried to hold back a smile at the look of astonishment on Tony's face. “Maybe he could do that. Or maybe you should save it for once I’ve gone so I don’t interrupt you all the time when you say things about my honour.”

“Can’t exactly say anything about your honour given that you haven’t actually got any.” Steve said flatly.

Tony laughed with glee and Bucky blanched. “Excuse me?”

“He's got you there!” Tony said, still laughing.

“Says the person who cheats at every game of monopoly!” Bucky shot back. “And whether or not I have any honour may be debatable but I certainly have dignity and my dignity has been insulted.”  
  


“I think your dignity questionable too.” Tony said.

“So is yours.”

“How do you not dicredit Steve’s honour and dignity?”

“He’s swimming in it.” Bucky said slightly begrudgingly. “Regular boy scout.”

“I got kicked out of the scouts.” Tony said. “Apparently it was against the rules to play strip poker. It's not like it was all of us; it was only two. And then we started making out and got walked in on, though I can kinda see why we got in trouble for that bit.”  
  


“How old were you?” Bucky asked, intrigued. "You've never told me about this before!'

“14.”

“14 and playing strip poker at scouts.” Bucky gave Steve a wry grin. “Sums Tony up perfectly.”  
  


“Don’t think I ever managed to get any badges either.” Tony said cheerfully. “Almost got the fire one but I set too much on fire. It was only one tent. And the kid who was inside it got out without getting burnt. I'mI guessing you went all the way up to Eagle Scout, Steve.”

Steve shook his head. “Never made it in to Scouts at all. They weren’t quite as good about trans kids then as they are now.”

“Ah.”

“But he still manages to be an absolutely model scout all the same without even having been one.” Bucky said. “Always been good at doing impossible things. Right, I need to go up to the ridge. Have fun.”

Bucky kicked his horse into a lop and rode away up a path to the side of them. Once Bucky was out of earshot, Tony turned to Steve. “Embarrassing story time?”

“Embarrassing story time.”

-

After the exchange of embarrassing stories, Steve and Tony talking abou t themselves. Steve told Tony about growing up in New York with a single mom and what his friendship with Bucky had been like, how hard it had been when Bucky had moved back to Indiana, how his career had grown up from something he did on the side along with working behind a bar to pay for an art degree he’d dropped out of. 

Tony talked about his childhood in the posh part of the state, his passion for cars and reckless teenage years that had turned into wanting to prove his father wrong by becoming a more successful businessman than his father had ever been.

Talking to Tony was easy, Steve discovered. He was easy going, friendly, sharp as a whip. He could see how Bucky had taken a shine to him; wondered if it had been anything to do with the fact that Tony was similar to Steve. From the sound of it, he was as rash and stubborn and determined as Steve was, though admittedly they had both come from very different backgrounds and their immediate personalities were rather different too. 

“You’re not as bad as I thought you would be.” Steve blurted out suddenly. “I though because you’re Bucky’s boss and all that things would be off between you two. But they aren’t.”

“If this is your version of the shovel talk, you’re not doing much to scare me”

“I don’t want to scare you. You seem to be a perfectly decent guy. And you clearly care about them.”

“I care about them a lot.” Tony said, voice low and serious now compared to the joviality earlier on. “I hope you know I;’l be good to them,” he coughed awkwardly. “Uh, ho, you two have clearly been pretty close for a long time and I was- did you two, ever, you know?”

Steve shook his head.

“Not even as teenagers?”

“Nope.”

“Huh.”

The horses rounded a corner and Bucky came riding towards them.

“Cows alright?” Tony called out.

“Yeah. Ready to head back?”

“Steve has a lot of interesting stories about you.” Tony said, back to his big smile again.

Bucky goaned. “What did he tell you?”

-

Steve went into town by himself that afternoon. The workers on the ranch were doing something that involved trying to get a mass of cows through a fenced path and into a pen to give them vaccinations and from what Steve had been told, it sounded rather stressful and dangerous, so it had been decided that it was for the best for Steve to get out of the way for a couple of hours. Bucky’s thrown him the keys to their truck and now he was driving past rolling fields with the windows down, the radio up and his thighs burning from the ride.

He only had the music on for a couple of moments before he felt like a prat and turned it off, turning into the town just afterwards.

Small towns in Indiana were a far sight from New York.

The sidewalks were mostly empty and he didn’t have to walk with his shoulders up and constantly on the lookout for trouble. People stopped to talk to each other when they bumped into someone they recognised, they waved at each other, kids ran ahead of their parents. There were no sirens going off twice a minute. The air was clean and it smelt like good, natural dirt rather than whatever toxic chemical stuff New York had ended up with, and it was so much quieter that Steve caught himself wondering if there was something wrong with his hearing. Then he remembered that he’d grown up in the city that never sleeps and realised that was definitely the case.

He didn't really pay much attention to the shops and the hairdressers or the bars he walked past. He kept his head down and didn’t look much further than putting one foot in front of the other. He wasn't sure that there was much more room in his head for more info. Everything he head learnt and see and heard over the last few days was running circle around his head, waiting to be processed and mulled over. Bucky, Tony, relationships, friendships, jokes he hadn't quite understood.

Then there was the fact that he'd felt like he was lying when he told Bucky he was ok with their relationship with Tony. He still hadn't quite worked out why that had happened.

Then the sidewalk ran out and Steve had to stop walking before he ended up in the middle of the road. He looked up and examined his surroundings, wondering where to go next. When he turned around completely and caught sight of the small diner behind him. The sign on the window said ‘Martinelli’s!’. There were a few people inside and there was a counter full of very impressive looking cakes.

Steve decided to go in.

“Hi!” A woman with curly brown hair looked up from the corner of the floor she was scrubbing with a mop. “Oh, you’re new! Haven’t seen you around here before!” She tipped her head back and hollered: “Peg! We’ve got a new customer!”

“Alright, alright, keep your hair on!” Another woman, this one with darker hair, came out from the kitchen and stopped behind the counter. She smilded at Steve. “Has she interrogated you yet?”

Steve shook his head. The second woman gave the first woman an impressed look. “That’s very restrained of you, Angie. Right Mr Brooklyn Accent, what can I get you?”

-

“I think your pal Steve could have stayed to help,” Tony said, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. “He's certainly strong enough. I know someone would need to show him the ropes, but still.”

“He got the hang of the riding quickly enough.” Bucky agreed, starting to retie a knot holding two of the makeshift fence panels together.

“He’s nice.”

“Your tone of surprise suggest that you have absolutely no faith in my taste of friends.”

“It’;s clear he means a lot to you so I thought he’d either be wonderful or he’d be a toxic part of your past you were obsessed with.”

“That’s just because you think everyone from New York’s a slimeball.”

“Yep.” Tony paused and then continued. “He said there’d never been anything between you.”

Bucky stared at Tony in astonishment. “Did you seriously ask him that?”

Tony nodded.

“Why?” Bucky put their hands on their hips.

“It seemed like there might have been.”

“And so you were asking because you thought I might leave you for him?”

Tony didn’t answer.

Bucky laughed sarcastically. “Well that’s just swell, isn’t it? I’ve been with you for a year, Tony, and I’ve known you for way longer than that and then Steve, who I haven’t seen in 7 years, comes to visit and you think I’m gonna decide I want to go running off to live the high life in New York where rent is a year’s wage and sandwiches cost $10? You really think that little of me?” Bucky scoffed and stared out at the fields. “Who am I kidding? Of course you do! Of course you think I’m going to leave you for the first new man that comes into my life, because that’s what you do, isn’t it? Leave when you get bored and find a new person to muck around with. Maybe you're gonna leave me for him!”

Tony pursed his lips and folded his arms “I didn’t think any of that until I saw the way you two looked at each other.

“Like friends!”

In the background, unnoticed by Tony and Bucky, Natasha and Clint were silently sidling away as fast as they possibly could without being noticed.

Tony laughed disbelievingly. “Don’t mock me. You’re in love with him. Or have you not realised it?"

Bucky spluttered. “I’m- I’m not- I love you, not Steve!”

Tony froze. “You love me?”

“Yes, you idiot! I love you. And if I’m in love with you, I can't be in love with Steve, can I?”

“You can be in love with more than one person at the same time.” Tony put his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground. “I believe you when you say you love me. But I don’t believe you when you say you aren't in love with Steve.”

Tony turned away and walked to his truck while Bucky stared after him, gobsmacked.

“Tony Stark, why the hell are you walking away from me?” Bucky yelled.

Tony didn’t look back. He got in the truck and started to drive.

“Do you want us to spray paint his house?” Natasha called to Bucky.

Bucky shook their head sullenly and went to get the next cow.

-

“What brings you to Shelbyville?” Angie asked Steve, putting his coffee and the plate of carrot cake on the table.

“Come to visit an old friend who works on one of the ranches here.”

“Can I guess who it is?” Angie asked hopefully, pulling a chair out and sitting down, resting her chin on her hands. “I can’t think of anyone else around here from New York; it's so nice to hear a familiar accent, by the way.” She pondered for a moment. “Peggie, didn’t Bucky Barnes grow up in New York? Is it them?” she asked Steve.

Steve nodded.

“Oh, I was right! How d’you know ‘em?”

“We went to school together.” Steve tried some of the carrot cake. “This is really good.”

“Thanks.” Angie glanced around the room and lowered her voice to a whisper. “We got the recipe of the internet and changed it from courgette to carrot.”

Steve chuckled. “It's still good, though.”

“So. You and Bucky.” Angie gave a sly smile. “Mighty long way to come to see a friend?”

“They're my best friend.” Steve said simply.

“Nothin else?”

Steve shook his head. “They have a boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah. Tony. I forgot about that.” A simultaneously sympathetic and intrigued look came onto Angie’s face and Steve wondered if there was some sort of potion in the coffee that had made him warm up to this woman so quickly. “Are you in love with Bucky and you came out here to tell them you love them but then you found out about Tony?”

Peggie walked by just as Angie said that. “Angie Martinelli! Are you interfering in strangers’ love lives again?”

Angie nodded. “Strangers are the best people to have interfere in your love life because you listen to strangers over people you actually know.”

Peggie looked at Angie with a slight hint of horror. “Is that what you do?”

Angie nodded. “It was a stranger who told me to ask you out and look how well that went!”

Peggie sighed and turned to Steve. “If she gets too much, just tell her to go away.”

“Peggy, I’m nowhere near as bad as you think I am.” Angie said. “Now shoo! I need Mr. Brooklyn to give me an answer.”

Peggy walked away.

Angie stared at Steve. “So?”

Steve looked at the table. All the snatches of thoughts and flares of emotion he'd felt since he arrived clicked into place. “I didn’t realise I loved them until I got here.”

“I'm gonna get you another piece of cake.” Angie decided. “You look like you need it. On the house.”

-

On the way back to the truck, Steve got a phone call from his boss. “Hello?”

“Steve, we’ve got a job for you.” Fury sounded excited and that unnerved Steve greatly. “You’re doing the shoot for the new Gucci range. And I know you’re away but it’d only cut your trip by a couple of days and we’ll pay your travel and you’ll get double your normal rate for the job.”

Steve was astonished. “Gucci?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m gonna need to think about it. I’ll ring you back in an hour.” Steve hung up, put his phone in his pocket and went back to the truck feeling utterly miserable. He had no idea why.

-

He pulled over by the side of the road and rang Fury.

-

“I’m gonna be leaving two days early.” Steve said to Bucky as he got out of the truck. “I'm so sorry. A work thing’s come up, and I…”

Bucky’s face fell. “Oh.”

“I’m really sorry. My boss rang while I was out and the dates can’t be moved. Did, uh, did your thing with the cows go alright?”

Bucky nodded stiffly and walked into the house.

Now Steve felt even worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference to strip poker and fire.  
> reference to death by injury from falling off horses.


	4. Day Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings in end notes. Come say hi on tumblr! I'm silvermyfanwy

Steve still felt miserable when he woke up the next day.

The significance of the previous day’s events had truly sunk in overnight; he was in love with his best friend, who was in a committed long term relationship and lived 700 miles away. He was leaving the ranch the day after tomorrow to go back to New York with its buildings and its people and its noise, his job as a photographer, his flat with a view of an underfunded high school.

He wanted to stay on the ranch, he decided. By itself it wasn’t nice enough to draw him away from his home. His home in New York where his childhood had been, but with Bucky it was plenty. He could have stayed on the ranch and never gone back if he had Bucky, but he didn’t. He couldn't stay on the ranch at all while Bucky was with Tony, while Bucky loved someone else. It was never going to work.

Steve wondered what he should do when he got back to New York. He was so torn between New York and Indiana, Bucky and no Bucky. He wanted to get far away where he didn’t have to see Bucky with Tony and darn it why did Tony have to be such a good man? If he was terrible Steve could have told Bucky and made them see it wasn’t going to work and then ask if Bucky was interested in a relationship with him. But Tony was too damn good to Bucky and Steve couldn’t take that away from them. Any of them.

But if he went, Bucky wouldn’t be in the same place as him anymore.

Steve decided to go back to New York, not speak to Bucky for a while, move on and then only get back in touch when his feelings were entirely platonic.

Then he felt sick and wanted to cry, so he pushed the thoughts away to the back of his mind, got out of bed, pulled his clothes on in a daze and braced himself to get breakfast and pretend everything was okay.

Then he remembered how annoyed Bucky had been the night before and realised it wasn’t going to be okay.

-

“Sir, if you don’t mind me saying so, you seem rather quiet this morning.” Jarvis said to Tony at breakfast.

Tony was chasing his cereal around the bowl with his spoon and staring at it intently. “Mhm.”

“Is everything okay?” Ana asked cautiously. “Did you have an argument with Bucky?”

Tony rubbed a hand across his face. “Something like that.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ana asked gently.

“Bucky’s in love with Steve.” Tony blurted out suddenly.

Jarvis raised his eyebrows and Ana set her glass of water down. “Their friend who’s come to stay?”

Tony nodded.

“Did they break up with you?” Jarvis asked.

Tony shook his head. “They didn’t actually tell me they were in love with Steve. I just, sort of, guessed a bit.”

“So they might not be in love with Steve.” Jarvis said.

“Yes.” Tony sighed. “But I can see it in their eyes and the way they are around each other. I think they’re in denial about the whole thing.”

“You told them you think they're in love with Steve?” Ana asked, astonished.

Tony nodded. “Should I not have done that?”

“It’s certainly unorthodox.” Jarvis said.

“I shouldn't have done that.” Tony deceived. He swore. “They told me they love me.”

“Who loves you?” Rhodey asked, walking in. He froze when he caught sight of them all. “What’s happened?”

“I’ve messed it up with Bucky. Even if it is partly Steve Roger’s fault.” Tony got up and poured his cereal down the sink. “Steve’s in love with Bucky, at the very least.”

“I have absolutely no idea what's going on and I don’t think I want to.” Rhodey decided.

“You should talk to Bucky.” Ana told Tony.

He stared out of the window. “Yeah. I probably should.”

“Do you love them?” Jarvis asked.

“Yeah.”

“Tell them that.”

Tony laughed coldly. “Problem is, I don’t think they’ll believe me.”

-

“Hey. Bucky, once you’ve finished feeding the horses, would you check the fence along the driveway with me?” Natasha called to Bucky as they crossed paths in the yard.

“I’ve already fed the horses.” Bucky said flatly.

“Oh. Could you give me a few minutes while I do some other stuff and then we’ll go and do it?”

“I’ll go and start now.” Bucky said, coldly. “Get it done faster.”

“You don’t need to start now if you don’t want to.” Natasha said gently. “It can wait a few minutes.”

“I said I’ll go and start now, so I will.” Bucky snapped. “It’s fine.”

Natasha blanched at them but before she could say anything, Sam stuck his head out of the window of the house. “Hey Bucky, have you got any plans with Steve today?”

“Of course not!” Bucky yelled back. “It’s not like he’s my best friend who lives 700 miles away who I’m seeing for the first time in years or anything!”

“Ok, ok, chill!” Sam yelled back. “I was only gonna ask if maybe he and you wanted to go for a ride to the hills with me; i need to go that way today anyway.”

“I have no idea where he is and i'm not his babysitter, so you’ll have to ask him yourself.” Bucky snapped.

“What the hell has gotten into you, Bucky?” Natasha asked, icy.

Bucky didn’t answer, turning around and storming off to the driveway instead. Natasha stared after them, hands on her hips and scowling.

“Well that was nice of them.”

“Not helpful, Sam!”

-

Steve went riding with Sam and Thor. Bucky was still sulking over the fence, from what Sam had gathered from Natasha.

“I don’t suppose you have any idea why Bucky’s thundering around like someone stole all their socks?” Sam asked Steve.

“I think they’re upset I’m leaving early.” Steve said quietly.

“You’re leaving early?”

“Yeah. I’m getting the early train back to New York the day after tomorrow.”

“If they’re upset, surely they should be making the most of the time they have left with you rather than being in a strop.” Thor said.

Steve didn't respond. Sam decided to change the topic.

-

“Tony, what the hell are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” Tony asked Rhodey dryly, taking a second glass out of the cupboard and holding it out to him.

“It’s a work night.”

“And I’m you boss and I’m saying that I don’t mind if you’re hungover tomorrow morning.” Tony said.

“Maybe I mind.” Rhodey retorted. “Why are you drinking, anyway?”

“Not drinking yet.” Tony took a bottle of whiskey out of the cupboard and took the cork out. “I will be in a moment though.”

“Is this about your argument with Bucky?” Rhodey held his hand out for the bottle once Tony had poured himself a glass.

“First, I want to know if you’re pity drinking or if you’re drowning your own sorrows, because sharing is caring, after all.”

“Have you been drinking already?”

“Pity drinking or sorrow drowning?”

“Pity drinking.”

“Boo.” Tony handed the bottle over, downed his glass an one go and sat down. "This is about Bucky and Steve.”

“Have you talked to them?”

“Nope.”

“Talking to them is probably a good idea.”

“Steve’s leaving early.” Tony said, reaching out for the bottle. “I need some more. So Bucky’ll break up with me the morning after tomorrow when they decide to get on his train with him and go to New York. Might as well put off the pain as long as possible and not give him a chance to do it sooner.”

“So this is pre-break-up drinking.”

“No, this is me being absolutely terrified that Bucky’s going to leave me and trying to ignore it.” Tony grinned manically and downed a second glass. “Oh. That stings.”

“I think you’re overreacting.”

“I think I am emotionally preparing myself for the worst possible outcome of this current situation. Besides, if I do the hurting now, it’ll hurt less later.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

Tony ignored Rhodey.

“If you care this much about Bucky, go and talk to them to try and save your relationship, if it even needs saving at all.”

Tony gave a bitter laugh. “Rhodey, you and I both know that’s the sensible thing to do. And we both know I’m terrible at doing the sensible thing.” He poured himself a third glass.

Rhodey sighed heavily. It was going to be a long night.

-

Steve let himself into Bucky’s room after dinner that night, arms folded across his chest. “Why’ve you been avoiding me all day?”

“I have not.” Bucky snapped.

“And why’ve you been snapping when you haven’t managed to avoid me?”

“Why do you think?” Bucky said, laughing hysterically and looking at Steve disbelievingly. “Coz you’re leaving!”

“Why are you angry I’m leaving?” Steve asked, confused.

“Because I don’t want you to go.” Bucky said plainly. “I missed you but I didn’t realise just how much I’d missed you until you were here and now I'm about to lose you again.”

“I don’t want to go.” Steve admitted quietly, voice so low and ashamed it was almost a whisper.

“Then don’t.” Bucky said simply. “Cancel your train and stay.”

Steve swallowed. “I can’t.”

“Why not?” Bucky demanded. “All it takes is, like, one press of a button on your phone and one call to your boss. If- if you can't afford it, I’ll give you the money from the train and the job.”

“It's not that.” Steve said thickly. “I can’t stay here.”

“Why not?”

“Because I love you and me being here is damaging your relationship with someone you are in love and happy with.” Steve said in a rush.

“Why would you loving me affect my relationship with Tony?” Bucky asked, confused. “You’re my best friend, I know you love me.”

“Not like that, Bucky.” Steve said, voice quivering. “I’m in love with you.”

Steve walked out of the room, leaving Bucky staring after him in shock, mouth agape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for drinking


	5. Day Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end!  
> Come say hi on tumblr, I'm silvermyfanwy!

As it was Steve’s final day on the ranch, it was decided communally amongst the workers that they were going to take him to a nearby rodeo.

They piled into a set of trucks, all on them including Tony who was wearing an enormous pair of sunglasses and what appeared to be a set of earplugs and Bucky who was not quite as friendly to Steve as they normally were but still avoiding him slightly.

Steve wasn't surprised by it all. The usual amicalness was the last thing he would expect of Bucky after he had told them he was in love with them. He sat in a truck with Thor, Clint, Rhodey and Carol, who all seemed to be thrilled with the prospect of going off the ranch all together on a day when they would normally be working.

It was an escape, hearing the laughter and the joy of the others. It drew him out of his misery and his wallowing and the many, many curses he had running around his head directed entirely at himself and the recklessness of his decision the night before to tell the truth.

The rodeo was a truly chaotic affair.

There were horses and cows and more cowboys than Steve thought could have possibly existed in the whole of the country, nevermind one small group of towns in one single state. There was sunshine and dust and sweat. The crowd cheered and the crowd booed, the cows grunted and the horses whined. People thumped onto the ground when they fell off and people thumped onto the ground when they jumped off the backs of livestock in victory.

Steve watched this world of rope, leather and railings that was so very, very different to the worlds of rope, leather and railings in New York. He knew that the people and this place were not all like those of Shelbyville, that there would be the th people and this place were not all like those of Shelbyville, that there would be bigots and homophobes scattered aplenty across the crowds milling through the showground, past pens and into the stands. But he also knew that he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to leave. He;d spent so many years surrounded by brick and concrete, travelling by metro and taxi, breathing in dust and petrol fumes and cigarette smoke. Now something in him was yearning for a change.

The day passed in a whirl of sand and sunshine and suddenly there was smoke from a bonfire and the promise of smores after the meat and the veg finished cooking.

Bucky stood cooking at the enormous BBQ cooking sausages and a beef joint in a smoker under the watchful eye of May who was setting out bowls of salad and slaw, stacks of plates and cups and cutlery and juice. Steve sat on the logs around the campfire with most of the others, laughing with them over a story Tony was telling. Then they lined up to heap their plates with doof and sat back down again, Bucky sat next to Tony and though their hands were full their knees kept rushing and they seemed to be sharing their plates with each other.

Sausages and slaw turned to smores and sparklers, Steve smiled at Peter and Monica writing their names in the dark under a velvet ball gown sky stitched with sequins and studded with glitter ready for dancing. He ate gooey marshmallows soaked in melted chocolate, helped May pile dirty plates into a bucket of water to soak.

“I’m gonna turn in for the night.” Steve called out. “Got an early start tomorrow. Bye, if I don’t see you in the morning.”   
  


Between the hugs and the handshakes, Bucky managed to tap Steve on the shoulder. “Can we talk?” they asked quietly.

Steve nodded and stepped away with them to out of earshot of the bonfire. “What is it?”

“Tony.” Bucky called.

“Bucky, what’s going on?” Steve folded his arms. “You can’t spend two days avoiding me and then-”

Tony joined them. “What’s up?”

Bucky took Tony’s hand and kissed him.

“What was that for?” Tony asked, a note of fear creeping into his voice.

Bucky ignored him. “Steve, I have been a complete prick and I’m really sorry. I’ve been sulking and stroppy because I don’t want you to go and because I was mad that I’m in love with you too.”   
  


Steve froze. “What?”   
  


“I had to point it out to them.” Tony said. Bucky glared at him.

“Not the moment.”   
  


“I realized that as soon as I said it.”   
  


With their free hand, Bucky took one of Steve’s. “I love you. And I want you to stay here.”

“But you love Tony." Steve said, voice wobbling.

Bucky took a deep breath. “Tony’s polyamorous and I saw you looking at him before you found out he was my boyfriend.”

“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

Bucky nodded. “Tony, if you’re up for it, then, maybe Steve could stay and try being with us. Both of us.”

Tony looked Steve up and down and smiled. “I’m happy to give it a try.”

“This is-” Steve was bewildered. “This is- I don’t know what this is. What- you want us to try being in a- a poly relationship?”   
  


Bucky nodded desperately. “We can take it slow. Just dates at first, coz you know me only as a friend, not a partner, and, and you need to see Tony charm each and every waitress he meets into pouring coffee on him-”

“What the hell?”

“That sounds terrible but I promise it’s not I just have to explain it more and we can go to the cinema and you can go to the opening of that art gallery and learn to ride properly and if you and Tony decided you don’t like each other maybe I could be with both of you at the same time or something or even if you want or need more time to think about it, Steve, just please don’t get on that train tomorrow.” Bucky spoke lightning fast until they finished, begging and breathing heavy, tears pooling in their eyes.

After hearing that, what choice did Steve have but to kiss them?

-

A year later, Steve was living on the ranch as both an employee and the boyfriend of the owner and his partner. Time he didn’t spend working was mostly spent painting and drawing in preparation for his exhibition at the gallery. He was well and truly in love with both Tony and Bucky now; they both love him back.

And, to top things off, he could now ride a horse at full gallop without fear of falling off.

And they all live happily ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm silvermyfanwy on Tumblr! Come say hi!


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